Campbell Shutout Lifts Lady Hatters to Softball Win

Hatboro-Horsham High School didn't play a perfect softball game Tuesday afternoon at home against Pennridge, but the Lady Hatters made enough clutch plays to roll to a 3-0 victory in a key Suburban One League/Continental Conference contest.

Junior pitcher Lexie Campbell twirled her first varsity complete game with a five-strikeout, five-hit shutout, getting strong defensive support from the likes of center fielder Jen Cader and second baseman Jaynie Black.

Cader and Black also came up big at the plate as the Lady Hatters made the most of six hits.

Cader was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs, while Black contributed a safety squeeze bunt that brought in Cader as part of a two-run first inning that gave Hatboro-Horsham an early lift.

In beating a Ram squad that has split four games with the Lady Hatters and won twice on the road in the previous two years, HHHS improved to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in conference, while Pennridge fell to 2-3 and 0-2.

The top of the first was remarkably similar to last Thursday, when the Lady Hatters had a key error that led to two runs in a 3-2 loss to Souderton.

Another dropped pop-up in the top of the first on Tuesday put Pennridge in position for a quick start when lead-off batter Haley Taylor took advantage of the second chance on the error to drill a line-drive single to right.

But when Pennridge pitcher Emily Mayhew roped a double to left-center field with two outs, Cader erased the mistake with a perfect strike to home plate and freshman catcher Lisa Lang applied the tag on Taylor to end the threat.

Lang was called up from the junior varsity to play her first varsity game when starting catcher Bridgett Shaffer missed the contest with the flu. Lang was nearly flawless as she combined with Lexie Campbell for the shutout.

In the bottom of the first, Mayhew walked lead-off batter Deanna Moyer, who quickly stole second base. With first base open and one out, Mayhew pitched around dangerous third baseman Daria Edwards to bring up the left-handed Cader.

Mayhew fell behind Cader 3-0, came back for a pair of strikes and then watched the explosive hitter uncoil for a drive to the left-center field fence. Moyer scored easily and Edwards stopped at third on the play.

Black and Edwards then combined for perfect execution on a safety squeeze, with Black dropping a well-placed bunt down the first-base line. 

When Morgan Labs fielded the ball, looked Edwards back and fired to second baseman Briana Gery, covering at first, Edwards darted home and slid around catcher Liv Campbell to score the second run of the inning.

Cader's successful throw to the plate in the first may have intimidated Pennridge in the third when the Rams held Bridgett Casey at third base after a double to the right field fence by Taylor. It proved to be wise strategy, however, when Moyer threw another strike to Lang at home plate.

Following an error, when a dropped throw at third cost Hatboro-Horsham an out after Edwards had made a brilliant fake to catch Casey off base on Liz Nace's bunt, the bases were loaded.

But in one of the key plays of the game, Black turned a liner off the bat of Gery into a double play and Moyer corralled Mayhew's shot to right to end another Pennridge scoring threat.

Lexie Campbell allowed only one hit and one walk the rest of the way, but she also received some more strong defense as Cader tracked down a pair of sharp liners to negate back-to-back errors in the fifth.

In the sixth, Labs stroked a single to right and barely beat Moyer's quick throw to first base. But following a Julia Helbling sacrifice, Lexie Campball caught right fielder Lisa Bahmueller and pinch-hitter Amanda O'Hara on called third strikes to strand another runner.

Shortstop Megan Hallock used her extra gears to help manufacture a run in the bottom of the sixth for the Lady Hatters. She barely beat out a slap hit for an infield single and then scored with some well-executed base running after Cader's double to the left-center-field gap.

Hallock cut the corner of the third-base bag consummately and then faded away from Liv Campbell's tag with a head-first slide to drag her left hand across the plate for an important third run.

In the top of the seventh, Lexie Campbell needed just three pitches to retire the first two batters and then finished off Nace swinging at a third strike to finish off her shutout.

Junior varsity play between HHHS and Pennridge was cancelled on Tuesday due to poor field conditions on the Lady Hatters' JV diamond after Monday's heavy rain.

Both Hatboro-Horsham teams will be back in action on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. against arch-rival Central Bucks South (1-0 in conference) in what is always a key Continental Conference game.

Hatboro-Horsham and Central Bucks South have combined to reach the state 4-A championship game five times in the past eight years, with the Lady Hatters winning state titles in 2008 and 2011 and the Titans claiming the crown in 2012.